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In the end. the effort at global satire proves too strenuous. In spite of a climax as apocalyptic as any since King Kong was shot off the top of the Empire State Building, Author Condon falters as he battles both cold-war antagonists simultaneously. But in his comic set pieces, he is wickedly skillful. The book's most memorable incident reveals the true story of the Senator's battle scar. Stationed in Greenland, far from the smell of gunpowder but also far from any American women, the legislator-to-be seeks out the sealskinned houris of an Eskimo camp. A fight starts, and an impassioned maiden, fearful of not getting her share, gnaws him lustfully on the foot. "I guess that's the end of the war for old Johnny," says a buddy. But the future Senator has just begun to fight.